Russian plane crash: head of airport replaced amid reports that bomb was planted by Islamic State

It is believed there are up to 10,000 Brits in Sharm El-Sheikh who may have to be evacuated, as pressure placed on Egypt and Russian authorities following No 10 announcement

The Ministry of Defence denied reports that C-17 planes were being readied to airlift tourists home.

A defence source said the RAF has longstanding contingency plans for airlifting Britons home from crises around the world.

However in this case, the scale of the number of people stranded meant it was expected be faster to ensure the airport in Sharm El Sheikh was secure and have the tourists fly back on commercial planes.

09:26

Russia starts to bury its dead


Russia today began to bury the first victims of the plane crash in Egypt as Britain and the United States said the jet might have been brought down by a bomb.

Several hundred relatives and friends gathered in the city of Veliky Novgorod, around 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Saint Petersburg, to bid farewell to Nina Lushchenko, a 60-year-old school employee.

Lushchenko was one of the 244 people who died in the crash.

A priest leads a funeral service for Nina Lushchenko, 60, a victim of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 crash, at a church in Velikiy Novgorod Photo: OLGA MALTSEVA/Getty Images

Friends and relatives at the funeral said they did not want to assign blame and would like to steer clear of politics.

"There's no need to speak about politics right now. What does it have to do with this?" one of the relatives, Alexander Afanasyev, 50, told AFP.

A girl cries during a funeral service for Nina Lushchenko, 60, a victim of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 crash, at a church in Velikiy Novgorod Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Local authorities said 15 residents of Veliky Novgorod, including a child, were among the crash victims.

09:16

British forces helping rescue stranded Brits


Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent, writes:

British military personnel have arrived in Sharm El Sheikh to help stranded British tourists.

Defence sources said the small team of security and logistics experts were travelling with staff from the FCO and Department for Transport.

They are expected to asses airport security and arrangements for getting tourists home.

08:49

On the ground in Sharm


Our correspondent Raf Sanchez in Sharm El-Sheikh writes:

I arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh late last night on a flight from Cairo. The airport was mostly deserted but the security presence was still clear. Police in white uniforms roamed the empty terminal while soldiers slumped in vans at the entrance. Plainclothes security officers with guns also mingled with passengers.

Earlier in the day consular staff from the British embassy in high-vis vests were on hand to help UK tourists whose travel plans had been disrupted. But there was also a more discreet team of aviation experts from the Department of Transport quietly inspecting the security arrangements in place.

Either something they saw, or something that British intelligence has picked up, left the British government feeling less than confident in security procedures at the airport.

08:39

Metrojet grounding all its A321s over pending safety checks


The Russian Federal Transport Agency says airliner Metrojet has suspended all flights of Airbus A321 jets in its fleet after last weekend's crash of its plane in Sinai.

The agency said in a statement Thursday that Metrojet has filed documents showing the suspension, pending checks by the authorities. Metrojet has four A321 aircraft.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov says Russian rescue teams are wrapping up their search for any more remains of victims of last Saturday's plane crash in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Puchkov said after a televised conference call with Russian experts in Egypt on Thursday that the 40 square kilometer (15 square mile) -area should be combed by 10 p.m. Moscow time.

08:22

Hammond: Flight disruption "could take weeks" and is planning emergency measures to evacuate Sharm tourists


Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, said British authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts and the airlines to introduce emergency measures to bring British tourists safely and securely back to the UK.

He told Sky News: "We're working with the airlines and the Egyptian authorities now to put in place emergency short-term measures that will allow us to safely bring back the British tourists who are there in Sharm".

And he told Radio 4: "We have an immediate problem to deal with... and we will do whatever is necessary.

"If we have to send in additional personnel, additional equipment, if we have to have unusual handling arrangements for returning those flights we will do so.

"Regardless of the cost, regardless of the delay, regardless of the inconvenience."

Philip Hammond makes a statement on the situation in Sharm El Sheikh Photo: BBC

He also told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "These are special additional measures, not necessarily something that we could do on a sustainable basis but something that we will put in as a short term special measure to get back home the people who are there now."

In the longer term they will look at tightening routine procedures at Sharm el-Sheikh to ensure that normal flights can resume to and from the area.

But he warned: "That could take days, it could take weeks ... it depends on the experts."

And Mr Hammond reiterated that he understood the frustrations of the Egyptian authorities about the decision to suspend flights, but said they understood it was taken out of "the best of motives" and that they had been "extremely co-operative".


Mr Hammond said 19 flights that were due to leave the UK for Sharm el-Sheikh today and would have brought tourists home have been cancelled, but airlines expect to bring holidaymakers back to the UK from tomorrow.

Emergency measures to screen everything going on to planes will last "for as long as it takes" to bring people home, he told the BBC, adding that authorities on the ground will "only allow those planes to take off when they are absolutely confident that the measures they have designed have been fully implemented and we can absolutely assure the safety of those aircraft".

08:19

The view from Russia


Our correspondent in St Petersburg, Roland Oliphant, writes:

Russia is keeping to its "no theory should be ruled out" line, and the Kremlin/Foreign ministry hasn't commented publicly on the British and American claims.

The state tourism agency says it has received no advice from the foreign ministry to stop people visiting Egypt, which presumably means Russian flights in and out of Sharm will continue.

Some think that ulterior motives are at play in Britain's decision to cancel flights: Konstantin Kosachev, a member of the upper house of parliament, said: "There is geopolitical opposition to the actions of Russia in Syria.”

A photograph of 10-month-old Darina Gromova is seen next to flowers and cuddy toys at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 crash Photo: AP

Russian tour operators reported a massive drop off in sales immediately after the crash, so this could potentially have a major impact.

The British/American comments have been widely reported in the non-state media, but the major outlets have been somewhat playing it down - not completely burying it, but keeping it out of the lead headlines and reporting it as "one possibility".

Some people have pointed out that the bomb, if it was a bomb, may not have been planted in Sharm el Sheikh - it could have been hidden on board on the outward flight from St Petersburg.


08:13

Is the airport safe?


A US official told CNN: "This airport has lax security. It is known for that," the official said. "But there is intelligence suggesting an assist from someone at the airport. "

The deputy head of Sharm El-Sheikh airport, Hany Ramsay, was quoted by AP as suggesting ulterior motives to Downing Street's decision: "Other countries might soon follow them. They want to hurt tourism and cause confusion," Ramsey told the AP last night. He suggested that ulterior political and commercial motives may be behind the British statement.


07:58
The government's plan


Today, David Cameron is due to meet the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Downing Street at lunchtime, which should be a tense meeting to say the least.

Last night, a spokesperson at the Egyptian aviation authority dismissed Downing Street's statement as "speculation" and said the public should await the findings of the Egyptian-led investigation.

The Prime Minster will chair another meeting of Cobra later this morning, Downing Street said.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin will also be updating MPs on security situation at 10.30 in the Commons.

07:30

The situation for tourists


A host of travel operators have responded to the Government's warnings by grounding flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

EasyJet, Thomson Airways, Thomas Cook and British Airways are among the companies which have cancelled all flights to and from the Red Sea resort, several until next Thursday, following the Foreign Office's (FO) warning against "all but essential" travel.

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Travel agent association Abta has estimated there are at least 9,000 Britons on holiday at the resort and advised passengers who were stranded or were booked to go in the next few days to contact their tour operator.

The Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh Photo: Fotolia/AP

EasyJet said it had cancelled its flights to and from the resort today and would keep future flights "under review, pending further advice from the Government".

"Passengers booked to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh in the next two weeks are able to request a refund, or change their flights to an alternative date or destination free of charge.

"We are doing all possible to keep all affected passengers informed and have provided hotel rooms for those delayed overnight this evening. We are working with the UK Government to work out the basis upon which easyJet can fly passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh back home," it said.

Thomson Airways, along with First Choice, confirmed it has cancelled all outbound flights to Sharm el-Sheikh up to and including Thursday November 12.

A statement said: "All customers booked to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh in this period will be provided with a full refund. As a priority, we are contacting customers due to travel tomorrow and ask those travelling later in the week to please bear with us as we manage this evolving situation."


British Airways said flights to and from the resort would probably be delayed by 24 hours.

Thomas Cook has also cancelled all flights until next Thursday. The company said it hoped to bring its 1,700 customers back to the UK "in due course" and those due to fly today would be allowed to stay in their accommodation for free.

Those due to fly in the next week would be allowed to cancel or re-book with a £25 discount, the firm said.

Monarch has grounded all flights today and said it was working with the FO to arrange to fly its customers back to the UK.

05:30

Summary of developments


The United States and Britain said on Wednesday a bomb may have brought down a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) group insisted it caused the disaster.

Britain and Ireland suspended flights to and from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the plane took off on Saturday bound for Saint Petersburg before crashing minutes later, killing all 224 people on board.


"A bomb is a highly possible scenario," a US official told AFP. "It would be something that ISIL would want to do," he added, using an alternate name for the Islamic State (IS) group.

David Cameron's office said that "as more information has come to light, we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device".


Meanwhile the head of Sharm el-Sheikh airport has been replaced, according to Adel Mahgoub, chairman of the state company that runs Egypt's civilian airports. He said Abdel-Wahab Ali has been "promoted" to become his assistant, a move he said had nothing to do with media scepticism surrounding the airport's security.

The announcement comes as Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, is set to hold talks with Mr Cameron in London on Thursday, during his first visit to Britain since he led the army's overthrow of his predecessor Mohamed Morsi.

In Russia, authorities are expected to bury the first victim of the crash - the country's deadliest air disaster.

The memorial for the victims of the Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 accident, sits outside Pulkovo airport Photo: EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV

Moscow and Cairo both dismissed Isil's initial claim it brought down the Airbus A-321 in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, but the jihadists on Wednesday again insisted they were responsible and promised to reveal how.

If confirmed, it would be the first time the militant group, which controls vast tracts of Syria and Iraq, has bombed a passenger plane.

Egyptian officials said investigators probing the plane's black boxes had extracted the data from one of them for analysis, but added the other had been damaged and required a lot of work.

In a new statement on Wednesday, Isil again insisted it had brought down the plane - and challenged sceptics to prove otherwise.

The tail section of the Russian aircraft which crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near El Arish city on Saturday Photo: Corbis

"Prove that we didn't bring it down, and how it came down. We will detail how it came down at the time of our choosing," the group said in an audio statement posted online.

The Isil affiliate in Egypt is waging a bloody insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers.

On Wednesday, it claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing on a police social club in El-Arish, which the official Mena news agency said killed four policemen.

Isil has deployed shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in the past, but they are not known to possess weapons that could bring down an airliner at high altitude.

Russian emergency services personnel working at the crash site in Sinai Photo: Dmitriy Kiselev/EPA

Egypt has played down the possibility of a bomb attack and stressed the need to wait for the results of an international investigation, keen to preserve the country's economically vital tourism sector.

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said an estimated 20,000 Britons currently in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will be helped to leave.

"There is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft," he said after an emergency cabinet meeting.

Mr Cameron's office said he and Sisi had agreed on the need for tight security at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, and British aviation experts have been dispatched to the resort to assess security.

The Sun reported that RAF planes were on standby to airlift stranded tourists back to the UK.

Russian airline Kogalymavia, which operated the plane, has ruled out a technical fault or human error, drawing fire from the head of Russia's aviation authority for a "premature" assessment.

A Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations cargo plane, carrying the bodies of the victims, prepares to land at Pulkovo airport outside St. Petersburg, Russia

Experts say the fact that debris and bodies were strewn over a wide area points indicated the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air, meaning the crash was likely caused by either a technical fault or a bomb on board.

Flight KGL9268 was flying at altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 metres) when it lost contact with authorities, 23 minutes after takeoff.

A US military satellite picked up a heat flash at the time of the crash that could point to a catastrophic event during the flight, US media reported.

Vladimir Putin, Russian president, has described the crash as a "huge tragedy", and the first victim was expected to be buried on Thursday.

Relatives of the victims have begun identifying the bodies after two planes delivered the remains of many to Saint Petersburg.

In the city centre, about 300 people attended a vigil for the dead on Wednesday.